Donald Trump said that Iran “appears to be standing down” after it fired a barrage of missiles at American targets in Iraq in retaliation for the U.S. killing of Qasem Soleimani. But the US is continuing to look at its options, and will “immediately impose additional punishing economic sanctions on the Iranian regime”.
He also warned Tehran repeatedly to abandon its nuclear ambitions, vowing: “As long as I am president of the United States, Iran will never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon”.
As the President said, the U.S. is open to negotiations with Tehran: “We must all work together toward making a deal with Iran that makes the world a safer and more peaceful place”.
Trump urged other world powers to break away from the Obama-era nuclear agreement with Iran and work out a new deal.
The President also said that no Americans were harmed in Iran’s overnight attacks on two Iraqi bases that house U.S. forces.
Trump defended his Administration’s decision last week to kill Soleimani, saying the general’s “hands were drenched in both American and Iranian blood”: “He should have been terminated long ago”.